


Eight Is Enough

by darthsydious



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Ben will adopt all the animals, F/M, Poe whines a bit in this one, Rey has an addiction to plants, Star Wars Modern AU, but you would too if your car was a biosphere for seven hours on the freeway, fluff pure and simple
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-21 19:27:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30026670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darthsydious/pseuds/darthsydious
Summary: Ben has a habit of adopting strays, and senior dogs, and really anything that breathes. Rey has lots of plants. Running low on space and patience, Rey tells Ben it's time to downsize. Ben has a better idea.
Relationships: Finn/Rose Tico, Reylo
Comments: 13
Kudos: 62





	Eight Is Enough

“Ben. Solo.” 

At the sound of his girlfriend’s voice, Ben slowly turned, trying to act as if there weren’t an 85lb dog at his side. An 85lb dog, mind, that was the fifth he’d found and brought home. 

“Rey.” 

“You cannot keep doing this!” 

“Doing what?” He asked, putting on a mask of innocence.

“We have a seven-hundred square-foot apartment. We don’t have room for another pet!”

“We don’t have room for another plant, and yet somehow those keep appearing!” He snapped back, gesturing to the living room and the dwindling window and floor space. Rey glanced at the two ferns she'd just recently brought home, alongside a withered orchid she'd found at the market that was begging for some TLC.

“You know I try and get hanging plants whenever I can, because they take up less floor-space!” she stamped her foot. “Ben, this makes five times you’ve picked up a stray in the past three months. You promised me we'd stick with the three you started with. Are you mad? Eight dogs?” 

“What was I supposed to do, leave them?” he answered back. 

“You’re _supposed_ to bring them to the shelter! They’ll find homes for them!”

“They’ll sit in cages,” he groused, stroking the staffordshire’s short fur. He sat down on the couch, encouraging the dog to sit down at his feet.

“And what about the cat and her three kittens?”

“They were at a kill-shelter.” 

“The bearded dragon?”

“Pet store put it outside in a free box, in the middle of _October_ , Rey…it’s a cold-blooded animal. It would’ve died!” 

“The chickens?”

“Neighbors thought they could raise them for meat, they’re idiots and got bored.” 

Ben…” Rey heaved a sigh, rubbing her temples. “I _know_ you care.” she sat down beside him, crossing her legs. “That’s what makes you such a good person, you’ve got such a big heart.” 

“I know we’ve got limited space, Rey,” Ben answered, facing her this time. “But I can’t leave them, I just can’t. They’re living creatures, and people just dump them off like they’re garbage...like a life isn’t worth anything.” 

She covered her hand in his, squeezing. “I know, Ben. I know. But we’ve got to think about this realistically. We live in Queens, for pete’s sake. We’re in an eight-floor walk-up, and we’ve got everything in this little place from fur to feathers. If I have to carry another hundred-pound bag of kibble up those stairs again I’m gonna snap. We _need_ to downsize.” 

“Or we could move.” 

“Move?” Rey sat back, surprised. Ben loved living in the city. He hated commuting. The whole reason they moved to Queens was so he could walk to work. 

“I’m not getting anywhere at my job, they don’t actually use anything I design. We’re running out of space. It's not fair that one of us have to give up what we clearly care about, and most importantly, you hate it here.” 

She quirked a smile. “I never said I hate it here.”

“But you do. It's not a great neighborhood, the kitchen is cramped and the building is too noisy.” 

“Well, yes...but...Ben, where would we go?” 

“Remember my Uncle Luke? Well, left me his homestead. It’s way upstate, with about a hundred acres worth of apple trees. We could go there. I could go into business for myself running the farm part of it, looking after the dogs and animals, and you could actually do what _you_ love, instead of doing it for other people - you could have your own greenhouse, your own orchard and garden.” 

“My own…” her eyes shimmered at the thought. A whole beautiful orchard, a proper vegetable garden...best of all not having to cow-tow to the east-side snobs and their boring flower displays. She could grow things of purpose in the dirt, alongside her flowers and plants. 

“What do you say?” His voice broke through her thoughts. “Lease is up in a month, we could start moving things in a week.”

“How will we get all the pets there?”

“We’ll rent an RV,” Ben shrugged. 

“I- I don’t...I don’t know, Ben, it’s all so sudden, I know it’s perfect-”

“Would this make your decision easier?” he slid down from the couch, onto one knee and dug through his pocket. Rey stared. She knew the ring belonged to his grandmother. She’d seen Leia wearing it the last time they went upstate to visit them. “We could make it official...if...if you want. Both our names on the deed.”

“Are you sure?” she asked softly. He nodded. 

“I’ve been sure since the day we met. There's only one person who I’d want to live there with me. I want it to be ours.” 

“I want to be yours,” she answered back gently, and leaning forward, kissed him. After a moment of quiet celebration, he slipped the ring onto her finger, breathless, giddy. "We just got engaged," she murmured, laughing softly. "I was ready to have a good row with you!" 

"We can still fight if you want," he offered, teasing. 

“Later,” she tugged him by the shirt towards the bedroom, booting out the rest of the pets in the process. Ben couldn’t even scold her for that. 

* * *

**One Month Later…**

“You sure you got everything?” Rose asked, hands on her hips. Rey stepped down from the RV, doing one last headcount of the dogs, the cats, the lizard, the chickens, and all eighty-two of Rey’s plants, some of which were put into Poe’s car, who was kind enough to help them move.

“Everyone but Ben, did he say where he was going?” Rey asked.

“Just that he’d be back in an hour,” Rose shrugged. “Finn, did Ben text you?”

“Yeah, he got held up, but he’s on his way,” Finn loaded the last box into the RV. 

“Well he better hurry up if he wants to beat traffic. This thing is a beast and I don’t want to get stuck in the tunnel with noon-day traffic.”

“Oh, there he is!” Rose shaded her eyes, pointing down the street. Ben was easy to spot, since he was tall, but this time, he had an additional fourteen inches sitting atop his head. The bird in question was salmon pink and whistling. Ben carried in one hand two bird cages, one of which was occupied. Attached to his belt loops were four senior dogs, who seemed to be having the time of their lives on what was probably their first walk in weeks.

He came to the door of the RV and started loading the dogs inside. 

Hands on her hips, Rey could only stare. “Ben.”

“Oh, sorry, hi,” he kissed her in greeting before extricating the cockatoo from his hair and placing it on his shoulder. 

“Whatcha got there?” Rose asked with a snort.

He straightened, holding out his half-full cup. “Iced coffee.” 

“Ben!” 

“The birds both have their wings clipped, so it's not like they can fly,” he answered hurriedly. “And I only adopted the senior dogs.” 

“Oh only the seniors,” Rey shook her head. She couldn’t even be mad. Poe had every inch of space taken up by Rey’s potted ferns and fiddle-head figs. He was threatened with pain of death if anything happened to her orchids or bonsai trees. Which she may or may not have taken when she gave her two-week notice at the flower shop. 

“Ready to go? My car is starting to grow mold from the humidity.” Poe hung out the driver-side window. 

“You drive nice,” Rey warned. “And play good music for them or else-”

“I know, I know, pain of death, yadda-yadda,” Poe slid back into the seat, buckling himself in. 

Rey turned to Rose and Finn then. “Come and visit as soon as you can,” she hugged Rose tightly. 

“Send me pictures,” Rose begged. “Who knows, if it’s as pretty as Ben promises, we may have a better place than the park for our nuptials.” 

“I will!” Rey turned and hugged Finn.

“You call us as soon as you get there, yeah?” Finn said and Rey nodded. 

“It’s about a seven hour drive, so we should be there by dark.”

“Good.” 

“Come onnnnnnn,” Poe laid on the horn. “Rey, my hair is getting as poofy as your boyfriend’s in this biosphere,”

“You keep the car at that temperature,” Rey ordered. “I don’t want my plants wilting!” 

“Got it, got it, let’s go.” Poe waved, half-laughing. 

Rey climbed into the RV and closed the door behind her. Ben finished buckling the senior dogs into their seat harnesses and seeing that the birds were settled. Rey climbed into the driver's seat, setting the AC and cranking the radio. 

She looked over to Ben, who slid into the passenger seat, the pink cockatoo still seated on his shoulder. “Ready?”

Lowering his shades, he settled comfortably into the chair, feet on the dash, arms folded across his chest, an absolutely pleased-with-himself smirk gracing his face. “Punch it.” 

**Author's Note:**

> The pink cockatoo is a Major Mitchell's Cockatoo, and they're hella cute.


End file.
